All parents should incorporate reading children’s books into their child’s daily activity whether they go to school or are homeschooled.
Reading matters and should start the minute they can look into your eyes, listen with their ears, or touch with their hands.
We began reading to our son shortly after he came home from the hospital.
Not only that but we began to play soft music throughout the day like my wife did when he was in her tummy.
That might sound daft to some people but for a baby hearing their parent’s voice talking to them is soothing and what better way to begin than by reading a book.
Related: The Pros and Cons Of Homeschooling In Canada
Children’s Books can be expensive
Have you ever seen the prices on brand new books that have never been cracked open?
The prices are mind-blowing, especially for children’s books.
Next time you’re in a book store or if you have any children’s books at home flip them over or look in the front cover to check for prices.
Shoppers who pay full retail price for children’s books only do so because they really, really want it.
Sometimes it’s hard to resist those cute books that you know your son or daughter would love.
That’s not us… unless we’re getting it free.
Any smart frugal-minded person would go to the library to borrow books to read, free.
Yes, we do this BUT there are some children’s books that our son loves and wants to read over and over.
Most of our visits to the public library are for our son to participate in group activities, reading time, and educational building sessions.
The library is a great way to encourage our son to look through the children’s books and pick out any that he fancies reading.
This creates an Independence that he will appreciate in his own space, like a big boy.
When Canada Reads, Canada Grows – www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca
Just about anyone who reads books consistently knows the importance of literacy and how it has affected their life.
My mother for example would read a novel at least once a week when I was growing up.
Even today she reads but since she’s retired reading a book every day is not unheard of.
She’s always motivated my siblings and me to read outside of the classroom and made sure books were always readily available for us at home.
For many reading is an outlet into another world, stress relief, and relaxation but most of all, education.
New Age Of Children’s Books
Traditionally most of us read with a book in hand, turning the pages but today with the invention of the e-reader some readers enjoy this pleasure with a hand-held device.
No matter what way you choose to read the important part is that you continue to fill your mind with information.
Give children the chance to explore, read, and become engaged with literacy to help build their knowledge.
Buying children’s books the frugal way is easy and I’ll show you how.
If you want or need to purchase children’s books I’ve come up with ways you can get them for discounted prices or even for free.
Before you pay retail always explore your options.
Children’s Book Swap
Some parents like to swap their children’s books so that other kids have a fighting opportunity to read them.
Not all kids like to read so having a variety of children’s books available may be the key to opening up the first page.
The catch is they want them back but this is a great way to own some children’s books but lend them out to your friends so you can read theirs and they can read yours.
Then you get to keep it forever.
Children’s Books At Wholesale Warehouse Events
Some of the bigger cities may host a wholesale children’s book event where discounted books are available to the public at reduced prices.
The reason you may find such an event intriguing is that some of the books may be new books or recent on the shelves at your local book store.
Sometimes overstock forces booksellers to get rid of them fast or children’s books that might not have been as popular as intended.
This gives those book titles a second chance or hopes that parents will buy them and they become a children’s second time round best seller.
Related: Is A Costco Canada Membership Worth The Money?
Scholastic Canada books may have a warehouse book sale for kids as well Costco Canada is a warehouse that has children’s books for a reduced price and is quite popular with parents who shop there.
Garage Sales And Cheap Children’s Books
Likely the most lucrative way to buy children’s books for a deeply discounted price would be at a garage sale.
Kids seem to accumulate tonnes of books over the years from gifts or any of the other ways I’m going to share with you.
Related: How to negotiate at a garage sale
Once a child passes the age range of any children’s books in the house it may be time to sell them off.
You won’t become rich selling children’s books but buyers can certainly save a fortune not paying retail.
The best part is that you can negotiate prices especially if you buy more than 1 or an entire box that the seller has up for offer.
Don’t be shy…ask for a deal.
Book Fair
Your child’s school may hold a book fair where the library sells off books they no longer need or the school encourages children to bring books from home to sell or swap with other kids.
Collecting books from various organizations also help to boost book sales for school book fairs where the money raised is either donated or used for school activities.
Free Children’s Books
Ah, our favourite type of children’s books is the free books we pick up around our community.
We have amassed a large collection of children’s books where many of them were given to us for free.
Some of the places we find free children’s books are:
Second-Hand Shops
This is probably the second-best place for us to find used and new children’s books for cheap.
If you shop on 50% off days you’ll score an even better deal on children’s books.
The only downfall is you get what you get for books.
There’s no book series as it’s all an organized chaos of books on masses of shelves.
I don’t mind paying $1 for used children’s books that cost ten times the amount in most cases.
Some of the books we find are still brand new and haven’t even been read or possibly read once or twice.
The BEST! Most second-hand shops also have a promo where you buy more you save more.
Children’s Books At The Library
We were surprised to find out that the library in our area often has book blowout sales for dirt cheap.
The books may be titles that they have too many of or they are past their time.
Our library has a rack that is filled with children’s books as well as books for teens and adults before entering the library.
If you’re not sure if your local library has monthly book sales, just ask.
You won’t want to miss the savings on some of your favourite books if they are getting rid of them for cheap.
Book Store Half-Price Events
You can find bargain children’s books at just about any library especially at Chapters-Indigo which is where we first discovered the bargain books shelf and online savings.
Last weekend my wife went on a shopping trip with her mate and they ended up at Chapters.
Once inside my wife went straight to the children’s books as she is a book nerd and loves to read to our son every day.
My wife ended up coming home with a book with 5 puzzles inside for our son to put together.
She only noticed the discounted book rack filled with Children’s books hiding behind a display because a book caught her attention.
Our son loves monster trucks and after talking herself out of buying a bunch of new transportation-related books for our son she was thrilled to see a reduced rack.
Mrs. CBB told me the temptation to buy books was extremely high especially since they were new titles.
She fought and won that battle with the reasoning of other ways to get children’s books for less.
We know better than that.
Discount or Free E-books
If your child has an e-reader or tablet you can typically score free or reduced-price books online over at Amazon Canada.
The great thing about having the kindle e-reader is that you keep your book stash to a minimum at home with less to tidy up.
Now that our son has a tablet we’ll be on the lookout for free e-books that we can download for him.
These are great when we go on a long road trip or just for touring around the city shopping for the day.
He loves reading and using educational apps to learn everything he can about his new life in this world.
We will never deny him that privilege to read.
Dollar Store Children’s Books
I’m always in shock when I look for children’s books at the dollar store because of availability and price point.
They may not be from top children’s authors but you’ll find so many educational books even financial literacy type children’s books for a buck or two.
Three of our sons favourite children’s books come from the dollar store.
The three interactive books with sliding windows are a set and teach him numbers from 1 to 10, farm animals, and colours.
You can’t go wrong at that price.
Amazon Canada/eBay Canada Books
You can find all sorts of deals on children’s books at Amazon Canada or even eBay Canada where you can bid or purchase direct from sellers around the world.
Some of the books we’ve purchased from Amazon Canada for our 5 year old son are still with us today.
Children’s Books in Odd Places
Other quick options to purchase books would be at big box stores such as Walmart Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws grocery stores, Outlets in the mall, and so on.
The good part is if you belong to a rewards program such as the Shoppers Optimum or PC Optimum Points you can save up and use your points to get free children’s books.
You’ll find the selection of books are pretty good too as I had a look at Zehrs and Shoppers Drug Mart.
Related: PC MasterCard Elite Credit Card- Earn more PC Points and Fast!! << We have this!!
Online Discount Book Stores
There are many online discount book stores across Canada such as Book Outlet Canada based out of Thorold, Ontario who boast having “Read-iculously Low Prices”.
It’s worth the time it takes to look around to find deals on children’s books online.
Small Local Toy and Books Stores
Just about every community has a local book or toy store tucked away downtown somewhere or a hidden gem somewhere in the community.
Get to know your town or city, chat to the locals and go shopping for cheap children’s books.
We found our son a 50% off Melissa and Doug wood blocks alphabet sorter on a reduced rack at the Family and Company book store in Stratford Ontario while my wife was pregnant.
The shelf was filled with reduced items including children’s books.
Flea Markets and Outlet Shopping
If you love the flea market or outlet stores don’t pass by the book section where you will find discounts on tonnes of books.
Places like St. Jacobs Farmers Market in St. Jacobs Ontario offer books for sale not just-food.
Check out The Crossings Used Books or Text and Tales who sell quality children’s books.
You can also visit outlet malls such as the Toronto Premium Outlet Mall that has all sorts of shops with big names and lots of discounts.
There are outlet malls all over Canada many of which have shops that sell books and other items for discounted prices.
The Canadian Children’s Book Center
Another great resource for children’s books is The Canadian Children’s Book Centre where you can find lots of resources to help guide you on your quest to motivating your child to read books.
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nickel - I disagree with you. Good children's booksellers do not just care about the money regardless of who they work for. The branch I work for encourages good links with the community - we go into schools (with and without authors), we ask local children for their recommended books AND display them AND ask them to write reviews to display. We hold local author events, including a night where ten local authors from different genres came, met each other and the public, shared a bottle of wine, ate mince pies etc. Yes, a lot of titles are centrally ordered BUT we are able to order in our favourite new and old titles and prominantly display them, thus encouraging customers to try something new. Of course, the main emphasis of any business is to make money - even independent book shops unless you are in the enviable position to have so much money that you can do the thing you love most without needing to worry about making a profit.
Sorry if this sounds a bit of a rant but, regardless of popular opinion, it is possible to work for a chain and still have heart and soul.
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